Mervyn Susser

Mervyn Wilfred Susser (26 September 1921 – 14 August 2014) was a South African activist, doctor and epidemiologist.[1]

Mervyn Wilfred Susser
Born(1921-09-26)26 September 1921
Johannesburg, South Africa
Died14 August 2014(2014-08-14) (aged 92)
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, United States
NationalitySouth African
Occupation(s)Activist, doctor, and epidemiologist
EmployerColumbia University Mailman School of Public Health
TitleSergievsky Professor of Epidemiology Emeritus
SpouseZena Stein
Parent(s)Solomon Susser
Ida Rose Son

His career was closely interwoven with that of his wife, Zena Stein.[2] He is considered as one of the pioneers of epidemiology in the twentieth century.[3]

Biography

Mervyn Wilfred Susser was born on 26 September 1921 in Johannesburg, South Africa to Solomon and Ida Rose (née Son) Susser. His family moved to Mokopane in Limpopo Province, where he learned to track game in the wild. His mother committed suicide when he was a young boy. His parents enrolled him in a Catholic girls' school because it was the best education available before later switching to an unspecified boys' school several hundred miles away.[1]

Susser married Zena Stein in 1949.[1] Susser and Stein had three children: Ezra Susser, Ruth Susser and Ida Susser.[4]

Susser, Stein and colleagues began their careers at a clinic in Alexandra Township,[5] where they developed ties with members of the anti-Apartheid Movement including Joe Slovo, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela.[2]

In this work they were influenced and mentored by Sidney Kark.[6] In 1955, Susser and Stein left South Africa for political reasons, taking positions at Manchester University.[2] While there the couple published a paper on the epidemiology of peptic ulcers[7] and Susser coauthored an early textbook on Medical Sociology,[8] among other contributions.[2]

In 1965, Susser and Stein moved to Columbia University to lead the Division of Epidemiology.[9] Ideas from a series of lectures given at Columbia were published in the book Causal Thinking in the Health Sciences.[10][11] At Columbia, Susser founded the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, where he was named a chair.[12]

Towards the end of their careers, Susser and Stein became increasingly concerned about the HIV epidemic both in New York and in South Africa.[2] They helped to organise a conference in Maputo in April 1990, which aimed to alert the African National Congress about the HIV epidemic in South Africa,[2][13] sadly with limited effect. Susser, Stein and colleagues, worked on building scientific capacity in Southern Africa to deal with the HIV epidemic[13] and Susser and Stein served as early directors at the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, a research centre in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

He died on 14 August 2014 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.[1]

Legacy

On learning of his death, aged 92, Section27 issued the following statement:

His contribution to the fight against the HIV pandemic cannot be overstated. Dr Susser served as the joint director of the newly founded Africa Centre for Population and Reproductive Health Research in Kwazulu-Natal with his wife Dr Zena Stein in 1999. Mervyn and Zena were instrumental in highlighting the possible impact of the HIV pandemic in South Africa from the late 1980s. He worked alongside Dr. Salim (Slim) Abdool Karim to submit the first successful application to Fogarty in 1993 which sought to build strategic, sustainable scientific capacity to enhance the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.

References
  1. "Mervyn Susser, 92, Dies; Studied Illness and Society". New York Times. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014. Dr. Mervyn Susser, a South African-born epidemiologist whose work drew new attention to the connections between disease and the social conditions that can enable its spread, died on Aug. 14 at his home in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. He was 92. ... Mervyn Wilfred Susser was born on Sept. 26, 1921, in Johannesburg ...
  2. Davey Smith G, Susser E. "Zena Stein, Mervyn Susser and epidemiology: observation, causation and action", Int. J. Epidemiol 2002; 31(1): 34–37.
  3. Sandro Galea. "Remembering Mervyn Susser". Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  4. Susser I. AIDS, Sex, and Culture: Global Politics and Survival in Southern Africa. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
  5. Susser M, Stein Z, Cormack M, Hathorn M. Medical care in a South African township. Lancet 1955; i: 912–15.
  6. Susser, M. (1993). "A South African odyssey in community health: a memoir of the impact of the teachings of Sidney Kark". Am J Public Health. 83 (7): 792–93. doi:10.2105/AJPH.83.7.1039. PMC 1694783. PMID 8328603.
  7. Susser M, Stein Z. Civilization and peptic ulcer. Reprinted Int J Epidemiol 2002; 31: 13–17.
  8. Susser MW, Watson W, Hopper K. Sociology in Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
  9. Dr. Mervyn Susser obituary, ieaweb.org; accessed 27 August 2014.
  10. Susser M. Causal Thinking in the Health Sciences. Concepts and Strategies in Epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. ISBN 0-19-264915-9
  11. Kaufman JS, Poole C., Looking back on Causal Thinking in the Health Sciences. Annu Rev Public Health 2000; 21: 1–19.
  12. Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center website, cumc.columbia.edu; accessed 27 August 2014.
  13. CAPRISA. "A Tribute to Mervyn Susser from CAPRISA" Archived 26 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, caprisa.org; accessed 27 August 2014.
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